ABSTRACT.- Achieving food security requires resilient agricultural systems with improved nutrient-use efficiency, optimized water and nutrient storage in soils, and reduced gaseous emissions. Success relies on understanding coupled nitrogen and carbon metabolism in soils, their associated influences on soil structure and the processes controlling nitrogen transformations at scales relevant to microbial activity. Here we show that the influence of organic matter on arable soil nitrogen transformations can be decoded by integrating metagenomic data with soil structural parameters.

Enteric methane (CH4) emissions from sheep contribute to global greenhouse gas emissions from livestock. However, as already available for dairy and beef cattle, empirical models are needed to predict CH4 emissions from sheep for accounting purposes.

Wheat is the most widely grown food crop, with 761 Mt produced globally in 2020. To meet the expected grain demand by mid-century, wheat breeding strategies must continue to improve upon yield-advancing physiological traits, regardless of climate change impacts. Here, the best performing doubled haploid (DH) crosses with an increased canopy photosynthesis from wheat field experiments in the literature were extrapolated to the global scale with a multi-model ensemble of process-based wheat crop models to estimate global wheat production.

Context:Average sward height has traditionally been used as a grazing management variable. However, such approach ignores the spatio-temporal heterogeneity of swards. Because the intake rate responds non-linearly to average height at plant level, we expected that sheep exposed to contrasting grazing methods with similar average heights would behave differently. Conclusions:Intake responses of sheep differed between grazing methods with similar average height due to sward heterogeneity over time and space.

ABSTRACT.- Methods for accurately estimating within-field yield are essential to improve site-specific crop management and resource use efficiencies, which would be a major step toward sustainable intensification of agricultural systems. We set out to assess the accuracy of within-field soybean yields predicted by two data assimilation methods and to assess these methods? assimilation efficiency (AE). Yields were estimated by assimilating remotely sensed leaf area index (LAI) data from Sentinel-2 into a soybean crop growth model on a pixel basis.

This study was conducted to investigate if calves supplemented with rice bran in a creep feeding (CF) system associated with temporary weaning (TW) affects the performance of the cow-calf pair grazing natural grasslands during summer. Two experiments were performed using 275 cow-calf pairs of British breeds and their crosses of different parities (primiparous [n = 188] in Experiment 1 and multiparous [n = 87] in Experiment 2).

CONTEXT:A challenge facing the livestock sector is improving beef production while mitigating negative environmental impacts. Analyzing its past productive and environmental performance may elucidate strategies for improving efficiency of grassland-based systems and identify future research and public policy priorities.

The olive tree (Olea europaea L.), a species adapted to the Mediterranean climate, has expanded into new climatic regions. Uruguay has a humid temperate climate and highly irregular climatic conditions among years. Environmental factors can be an obstacle to full production, as they affect pollination and fruit set. In this research, the phenology of five olive cultivars (Arbequina, Arbosana, Manzanilla, Picual and Koroneiki) widely cultivated in Uruguay was studied, using the BBCH phenological scale.

ABSTRACT.- Achieving sustainable food and nutritional security requires a transformation of the existing agrifood system. In livestock farming based on natural grassland in Uruguay, an ecological intensification strategy could play a radical role in the transition towards more sustainable systems. This study analyzes the continuity of interconnected projects that used co-innovation approaches to promote and evaluate ecological intensification strategies over a period of 15 years (2004-2019).

ABSTRACT.- The practical value of portable hand-held ion selective electrode sensors (ISE) for on-farm [NO3-] measurement to assist with crop N management of vegetable crops has been demonstrated in numerous previous studies. They provide rapid, in-situ measurement of the nitrate concentration ([NO3-]) in nutrient and soil solutions, and in petiole sap. Sample temperatures, for on-farm measurements, vary appreciably. This study evaluated the effects of sample temperature on [NO3-] measurement using two different models of a commonly used, commercially available, portable ISE meter.